All parties with seats in parliament have proposals on culture

All parties with parliamentary seats running in March’s legislative elections include cultural proposals in their electoral platforms, from heritage to labor issues, and most set a target for government funding for the sector.

Chronic underfunding of culture has been a recurring phenomenon over the past few years, and to combat it, the CDU (a coalition uniting the PCP and Os Verdes), the Bloc de Esquerda (BE) and the Livre are advocating a 1% Budget from the State (PE) for culture in the first case and from gross domestic product (GDP) in the second and third.

The PS, now in power, confirms in its program the goal of a “gradual” allocation of 1% of OE to culture. PAN wants to guarantee an “effective” 1% OE for culture “throughout the end of the legislature.”

AD (a coalition of PSD with CDS-PP and PPM) generally states that it wants to increase by 50% during the next legislature the value attributed to culture in OE. Chega simply says he wants to increase the budget for culture. The election program of the Liberal Initiative (IL) says nothing about this.

Regarding the rights of cultural workers, an area where volatility and instability prevail, BE proposes, for example, a program to combat informal work, mechanisms for fair remuneration of authors, artists and performers, and the integration of precarious workers into public bodies.

Chega wants “stable labor relations and fair wages” in the sector, PAN proposes a pilot project for an unconditional basic income for “cultural agents”, PS wants to reduce the precarious labor relations that still exist in publicly funded institutions.

In the same context, the CDU wants the conclusion of labor contracts to become a “fundamental element” of the distribution of state support “with the necessary budgetary strengthening to increase real wages.” In addition, if it is a government, it undertakes to employ on a stable contract all workers absent from public cultural institutions.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which paralyzed the sector, forced the then Minister of Culture Graça Fonseca (PS) to commit to preparing, by the end of 2020, a statute for cultural workers that would take into account its specificity. work and allowed her to access social protection measures that professionals had long demanded.

The Cultural Workers Statute came into force on 1 January 2022, but specific provisions on the social security regime did not come into force until July 2023. Throughout the process, associations representing workers in the sector highlighted several concerns in the document.

In the election program, the PS undertakes to evaluate and revise the Charter. However, according to the law, the audit was supposed to begin in January of this year.

Livre, PAN and BE also undertake to review or amend the Articles of Association. The CDU wants to fight the “false decisions” contained in the document and “create effective mechanisms for access to social benefits and a stable payer career.”

Only a few parties also address the issue of inclusion in their programs. BE wants to guarantee full access for “functionally diverse people” to cultural equipment, PAN intends to guarantee accessibility of the contents of cultural equipment, adapting it to the needs of the public, namely the blind and deaf, and encouraging the use of new technologies.

Livre wants the arts and cultural sector to be “truly accessible to people with disabilities or special needs” and proposes, for example, collaboration between the ministries of health and culture to “extend medical prescriptions for cultural activities to include cultural activities.” activities within the framework of regional mental health plans.”

Heritage is mentioned in almost all electoral programs, and the PS has committed to consolidating the reorganization of the sector, which began in the current legislature with the abolition of the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and the creation of two new structures for the management of museums, monuments and cultural heritage.

The protection of “minority linguistic heritage” such as Mirandese or Barranqueño is another socialist measure, but the language spoken in Terras de Miranda also figures in the Livre program, which aims to “define and implement strategies for the protection and promotion of the Mirandese language like a living language.”

Promoting the “protection, preservation and restoration of cultural heritage” is an objective shared by AD with other parties such as Livre, which seeks to promote the protection of cultural heritage and the enhancement of the archaeological heritage.

Livre also wants to “decolonize culture” by contextualizing Portuguese history through museums, exhibitions, performances and educational materials, as well as through a list of works brought from former Portuguese colonies held by national museums and archives so that they can be returned to their countries origin.

On the contrary, Chega rejects “historical guilt” and wants to protect cultural heritage “by preventing its return to third countries.” It is also in this context that Chega wants to create a National Museum of Discovery.

The CDU wants a “Heritage Emergency” program and initiatives aimed at “preserving the historical memory of the resistance and fight against fascism.”

Among the PS proposals are also the relaunch of the National Archeology Strategy, for which a working group was created in 2021, or cultural-pedagogical projects that “promote and disseminate the performative and popular oral tradition of the Portuguese literary and cultural heritage and traditional arts.” .

Chega wants to “rehabilitate monuments, historic buildings and archaeological sites requiring conservation work” (which is already included in the current Restoration and Resilience Programme) and expand free entry to museums and monuments under its care. This also applies on Saturdays, not just Saturdays. On Sundays and public holidays, as currently valid.

Remove from the list of intangible cultural heritage “all events and performances related to bullfighting or any other involving the suffering and death of animals” and create a national network of museums “in defense of the memory of migration, interculturality and human rights.” ” are among the PAN offerings.

The book is another topic present in almost all election programs. The Liberal Initiative wants to repeal the Fixed Book Price Act, which BE and Livre want to review and reformulate respectively.

PS and Livre intend to review and reformulate the National Reading Plan, and Livre wants to strengthen its funding.

The Socialists also want to reopen the state bookseller, set a fixed quota on braille books, digital books and audiobooks, financially compensate publishers, strengthen funding for public libraries and take measures to preserve small bookstores and support independent small publishers.

The CDU intends to create a program to support small bookstores and independent publishers, similar to that in place during Covid-19, and to reformulate and strengthen the Creative Writing Grants Program.

PAN also wants to support publishers and organizations in the book sector, but with the aim of encouraging the reuse of books and investing in the digital transition.

AD’s priorities are to bring copyright law into line with new digital realities, particularly in relation to artificial intelligence, and to provide the school community with contacts with the nation’s writers, encouraging young people to develop a greater taste for reading and writing.

BE wants to strengthen the resources of national networks of public, school and research libraries. This measure is shared by Livre, which understands that libraries should be centers of community and access to culture.

Livre also proposes the creation of the National Library of Eduardo Lourenço, the deduction from the IRS of VAT levied on the acquisition of books as well as cultural products and events, the restructuring of the General Directorate of Books, Archives and Libraries and the increase in the value of the newly created checkbook until the end of the legislature.

In the field of film and audiovisual equipment, PS is committed to considering the allocation of a percentage of the audiovisual sector’s contribution to the sector and AD for the implementation of the Strategic Plan.

The CDU wants to maintain the completely public character of Cinemateca, while the BE, along with increased funding, wants to create a public organization for the distribution of films to combat the monopoly in this field.

In addition to the intention to tax the profits of video-on-demand streaming platforms, Livre wants a report published every three years on organizations funded and not financed by the Institute of Film and Audiovisual Materials, and proposes a progressive annual quota of Portuguese cinema in cinema. halls.

Cultural patronage is also a concern for some parties, but in a more or less general way: IL mentions the creation of a Cultural Patronage Regulation separate from the Tax Benefit Regulation, PS commits to moving forward with a new law, PSD wants an “attractive and mobilizing regime”, Livre wants to introduce The Patronage Law came into force, and Chega intends to revise it.